Owners tell the story they know, wonder about the one they don’t

At least nine cameras were pointed at David Van Auker and the other panelists during the news conference about the return of Willem de Kooning’s artwork to the University of Arizona Museum of Art, where the event was held Monday afternoon. Around 100 people — members of the press and the public alike — gathered to hear about the recovery of “Woman-Ochre” and to meet the people who returned it.

Van Auker, who sat stiffly at first, loosened up when his turn to speak came. More at ease with the media after a weekend full of phone and Skype interviews with national news outlets — ABC Nightly News, The Washington Post and the New York Times, among others — he wooed the crowd, which laughed and applauded as he told the tale of finding “Woman-Ochre.”

First, he thanked the Manzanita Ridge customers who urged him and his partners, Buck Burns and Rick Johnson, to research this particular piece of merchandise.

“It’s wonderful to have clients that recognize a de Kooning,” he said.

Hagyard also thanked everyone involved in recovering “Woman-Ochre” and announced a new fund to help with the necessary restoration efforts.

“The painting has been out of our care for almost 32 years and the painting will need some work before we are able to bring it back for public display,” she said.

Miller explained why “Woman-Ochre” by the Dutch-American abstract expressionist is so important to the UA Museum of Art collection, which is heavily reliant on American and European modernism.

“We have several works from the artists in the abstract expressionist movement of which de Kooning played a major, major role. To have that work missing rendered our collection incomplete. His role in that movement was seminal in that he was really able to reconcile the traditional figure of the woman in art with the newfound process, gesture materiality of paint and canvas and texture that really set him apart from his contemporaries,” she said. “We’re so grateful to David, to Buck, to Rick, to all of the people in four different states who were working really long hours to help us bring the painting safely home.”

Continuing by expressing his mutual gratitude, Seastone, who investigated the theft 31 years ago, said that bringing this painting back to UA was an example of interagency cooperation.

“I can thank the FBI, Interpol, my colleagues from New Mexico who helped us so much in a very short time period, and David and his crew. We know that it has to be a partnership, and this was truly a partnership,” he said.

Some of the journalists asked Van Auker to speculate on the painting’s backstory.

“I can only guess. I think it was in the same home for 32 years,” he said. “I just have a feeling that it went from here to there and never moved. I could be wrong. I’m a junior detective now, specializing in fine art theft.”

The crowd laughed but then grew more solemn when one man asked Van Auker whether he feels like a hero.

“No. We returned something that was stolen. We made the phone call within five minutes of seeing the article [about the stolen work]. This should not be unusual. This should be the norm.”

Van Auker has been the spokesperson for many of the interviews, since he researched the painting and took the lead on trying to return it.

“I’ll tell you what’s odd about it. David has social anxiety disorder,” Burns said.

But Van Auker has grown accustomed to being in the spotlight.

“Don’t get me wrong. It’s flattering, but it’s stressful,” he said. “I think I got on the joy train. It took all that anxiety away. That was the fun part and I had the strength to talk with the FBI. I’m sure it will come back.”

Johnson, though, is trying to stay out of the public eye. His hometown newspaper picked up the story but ran it without mention of Johnson as a Michigan native.

While many papers and news stations had contacted the Manzanita Ridge owners prior to Monday’s news conference, most had not been called back yet. “We ran out of time,” Burns explained.

He knows that the interview requests will keep rolling in over the next couple of weeks. But he has questions of his own.

“Now what we have is this mystery. I want to know the story now,” Burns said. “We found out that it was the painting. We were able to give it back, and it’s safe and home and it’s going to be restored. I’m not even interested in that anymore. I want to know the story.”